Blu-Ray
The blu-ray disc is a rewritable optical disc format meant for high definition video and high density data storage. It can store up to 27 gigabytes of data on a single side layer disc and twice the same amount on the double layer disc, while the traditional DVD disc can store 4.7 gigabytes only. The blu-ray disc can also store around 12 hours of video and its data transfer rate is 36 Mbps. The storage capacity of Blu-ray disc is five times that of the traditional DVD.
Efforts are being made to ensure that the Blu-ray format becomes easily extendable, that is, future proof and ready for subsequent changes in technology. A Blu-ray disc also includes support for multi-layer discs which can allow the storage capacity to be increased to 100GB-200GB (25GB per layer), simply by adding more layers to the disc.
The blu-ray format was developed to facilitate recording, rewriting and playback of high definition video and also to store large amounts of data.
The blu-ray format was developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) comprising of a group of leading electronics, computer and media professionals and manufacturers drawn from more than 180 companies across the world. The board of directors represents many important companies like Apple Computer, Inc., Dell Inc., Hewlett Packard Company, Hitachi, Ltd., LG Electronics Inc., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Pioneer Corporation, Royal Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, Sharp Corporation, Sun Microsystems, Inc. Sun Microsystems, Inc, Thomson Multimedia, Twentieth Century Fox, Walt Disney Pictures, Warner Bros. Entertainment and so on.
Like the traditional CDs and the DVDs, the Blu-ray provides a wide array of formats which include ROM/R/RW. It also specifies BD-ROM - read-only format for distribution of HD movies, games, software, etc; BD-R - recordable format for HD video recording and PC data storage and BD-RE - rewritable format for HD video recording and PC data storage. There is also a provision for developing a BD/DVD hybrid format, which combines Blu-ray and DVD on the same disc so that it can be played in both Blu-ray players and DVD players.
